I have bought my fiancee a mini one r50 1.6l 2001/51 with 98,000 on it as a wedding present as shes always wanted one. (the wedding is in three weeks)
The car was checked by myself (i worked for a motor trader for five years) and was in good condition (or so i thought) except the drivers door didn't unlock via the remote although did unlock manually with the key. It also locked both remotely and manually. I let my local mechanic have it and he discovered it needed a new door lock which he fitted. All was ok until he went to start it and it only turned over but wouldn't fire (possibly ews?) My mechanic then had it plugged in and it came back with fault codes (i dont know exact codes) that said the ecu was receiving signals and not sending them. Also when i went to see the car and the mechanic he pointed out that the engine management light was no longer lighting up on ignition although all other lights were and i am 100% sure it was lighting up when i inspected it (pretty obvious item to check on appraisal)
He has now removed the ecu and asked me to send it to a specialist company who will test and rebuild ecu at a cost to me of £250 (last thing i need at the moment with a wedding to pay for)
Has anyone had this problem? i'm thinking the ecu rebuild will not solve the problem and am starting to panic as my fiancee's family all know about the surprise present and i don't think it turning up on the back of a truck will go down very well.
So to sum up, door lock changed resulted in not starting although firing and fault codes on the ecu. I suspected the car was immobilized as has been fine for 6 the weeks ive had it hidden at my parents. I assume the fuses have all been checked and he has attempted to bump start it although cant check as my mechanic has gone on holiday for a week.
If ecu returns OK and this doesn't solve the problem i'm debating booking it into the stealership and having them sort it although i expect a £500 bill
thanks again for your time
A very worried mini owner!!!!

Also are you sure battery is good and fully charged after sitting around for a few weeks.....Mini's are very sensitive to low battery power and even though it may turn over there may not be enough to do anything else.